"": 200,
"": "",
"": "There was another detail here: He Lianxin.
Why had He Lianxin developed so-called senile dementia?
Had she really been ill?
And why had He Lianxin's soul been so resilient? Had a mother's devotion to her son alone kept Huang Zhili from tormenting her into collapse? Even after the Night Watch swallowed her, it had failed to digest her?
All of this was bizarre in itself.
One last point: He Lianxin's soul should have been with Luo Shan.
When Luo Bin found Luo Shan's body, he recovered everything except the Judicial Executor's belt.
He had not found He Lianxin's soul.
Luo Bin had never mentioned this to anyone.
He buried that pain in the deepest part of himself.
For a time, Luo Bin had believed He Lianxin was lost in the boundary domain of the thing that veiled the sky over Sawu Mountain.
"Father..."
"Grand... son..."
"My... son..."
Broken fragments of speech were still being squeezed out of the Cloth Doll.
"You've forgotten your roots!"
He Gongde stopped abruptly.
"Do not say such things in front of Master!"
"Originally, you only had a fragment of your living soul. It was on Master's instructions that I preserved your awareness, allowing all of your soul to be summoned back."
"You have your purpose! Once Master's needs are met, he may personally make you a Human-Skin Puppet, or let you return to life through a corpse!"
"He is nothing but a pawn!"
"Have you forgotten why I extracted this fragment of your soul back then?"
He Gongde gripped the Cloth Doll tightly by the neck and slapped a talisman onto it with his other hand.
The Cloth Doll trembled incessantly, giving off faint wisps of white smoke, unable to make another sound.
Before long, He Gongde reached the Mountain